Snow melter



March 10, 1953 sM TH 2,630,637

SNOW MELTEIR Filed Jan 15, 1946 s Sheets-Sheet 1 baa/r014. 5/7/76 IN VENTOR.

/ 3y "in 7 v ATTORNEY E. A. SMITH.

snow MELTER March 10, 1953 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Jan. 15, 1946INVENTOR.

E.l& ShdFTH SNOW MELTER March 10, 1953 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed Jan. 15,1946 {DIVA/$2024. 5/1/ r K INVENTOR.

arramM-V Patented Mar. 10, 1953 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 1 Claim.

The invention here disclosed relates to the removal of snow and ice fromstreets, roadways, railway tracks and the like and is in the nature ofan improvement on prior machines covered in Edward A. Smith Patents1,753,757, dated April 8, 1930; 1,895,900, dated January 31, 1933; and2,221,386, dated November 12, 1940 Objects of the present invention areto provide a practical and efficient machine for removing snow and icewhich will take in and melt frozen material as it advances, separate outtrash or foreign matter encountered and hold and dispose of thecollected water as best suited to the immediate conditions.

Special objects of the invention are to enable immediate clearance ofany refuse that may collect or be taken in by the machine and theadjustment and setting of the brush or sweeper mechanism to best suitthe conditions encountered.

Other objects of the invention are to provide a form of melter whichwith necessary changes in design may be applied to either roadway orrailway uses and which may be adapted to utilize the heat of differentkinds of burners, such as oil burners for street cleaning purposes andsteam nozzles supplied from a locomotive for railway track cleaningpurposes.

In connection with the railroad type of melter, further objects of theinvention are to provide such a machine which may be propelled either bythe locomotive or be self-propulsive and also, if occasion required, beable to apply its propulsive effort to the action of the locomotive.

Other desirable ob ects and the novel features by which the purposes ofthe invention are attained are set forth or will appear in the course ofthe following specification.

The drawings accompanying and forming part of the specificationillustrate certain of the present practical embodiments of theinvention. Structure, however, may be modified and changed as regardsthe immediate disclosure, all within the true spirit and scope of theinvention as hereinafter defined and claimed.

Fig. l in the drawing is a side elevation of a form of the inventiondesigned for roadway use;

Fig. 2 is a plan view of the same;

Fig. 3 is a broken detail of one of the slotted channel bars used on thesnow melting conveyers;

Figs. 4 and 5 are side and top plan views, respectively, of a railroadtype of machine.

Fig. 6 is a broken sectional detail on substantially the plane of line66 of Fig. 1.

Fig. '7 is a broken and somewhat diagrammatic view illustrating thecontrollable selective drive means of the railroad type machineillustrated in Figs. 4 and 5.

In general the machine consists of a rotary brush or broom l turning atthe front of a portable melting chamber and operating to sweep inwardlyand throw snow and ice fragments onto the upwardly inclined run of apreheated conveyor 8 which extends rearwardly into the chamher and dropsunmelted fragments onto the forwardly and downwardly inclined run of anintermediate conveyer 9 which in like fashion drops any unmeltedfragments onto the upwardly and inwardly inclined run of a lowerconveyer Ill.

Heat is furnished by suitable burner mechanism, such as the direct flameheat from oil burners, or indirectly as steam from a locomotive or otherburner or furnace fired boiler.

In the embodiment shown in Figs. 1 and 2 the heat is funished by burnersll discharging forwardly beneath the lower run of intermediate conveyer9 and above the upper run of the lower conveyer l0, said conveyerserving to direct the heat forwardly beneath the inclined runs of thefront and top conveyer 8.

The three conveyers may be generally alike,

made up of transverse channels I2 carried by chains I3, said channelsbeing cross slotted as at M for passage of heat and drainage of meltingice and snow.

The broom and conveyers are connected together preferably so that theymay all be driven from a single power source. This power unit may be aninternal combustion engine such as represented at I5, driving by chainI6 a gear ll on shaft I8 carrying sprocket pinions IQ for the upperconveyer. This shaft is shown carrying a sprocket pinion 2U traversed bydrive chain 2! running over the top of sprocket pinion 22 on shaft 23 ofthe intermediate conveyer 9 and around the under side of sprocket gear24 on shaft 25 of the lower conveyer I0, said common drive chaincompleting its circuit over an idler 26. In this manner the conveyorsare driven with the upper run of the top conveyer operating inwardly,the upper run of the middle conveyer operating outwardly or forwardlyand the upper run of the bottom conveyer travelling inwardly.

The shaft 21 carrying the sprockets 28 for the lower forward end of thefront and upper conveyer 8 also carries spur gears 29 in mesh withintermediate gears 30 which in turn drive gears 3| in mesh with gears 32on the broom shaft 33.

In this manner the broom is rotated in the direction of the arrow tosweep snow and ice inwardly into the melting chamber.

At the foot of the front conveyer a scraper or plow 34 is shown locatedto direct the inwardly swept material up over the upwardly travellingrun of the conveyor. This scraper and guide is shown as carried by theside frames 35 in which the broom shaft is journale-d and which framesalso carry the journals for the conveyer shaft 21 and intermediatedirection reversing drive gears 30, 3|.

The broom is hooded over at the top by a downwardly and forwardlyinclined top wall 36 connected with the side walls 35 and this enclosureis constructed as a complete unit separate from the body of the meltingchamber.

The hood last described is mounted for vertical adjustment at the frontof the melting oven, in the present illustration by having verticalchannels 3'? at the. inner ends of the same uided in sli ingengagement'against the vertical channels 33 at the front of the meltingchamber by rolls 3Q supported in the movable channel 37 by stationarybrackets ii).

Vertical movements are imparted to or permitted the broom hood in thepresent disclosure by cables ii extending from hydraulic rams of jackst?! around guide sheaves 53, 4, and connected with the sides of the hoodat 55.

The broom lifting and lowering jacks 32 are shown in Fig. 2 as connectedby piping 158 with a' suitable pump and control unit il' operable toefiect desired lifting and lowering movements and securing of the broomat a desired level.

To screen trash or other matter away from the first conveyor and tobreak up snow and ice to a sine best suited for quick melting, bailiesare usually provided at the entry to the first conveyor, these beingshown in the present illustration as spaced rods #33 carried by andupwardly inclined from the scraper 35 over the lower, upwardly inclinedrun of the conveyer.

The rotary broom, drive gearing for the same, scraper, guard screen andsupporting shaft for the lower end of the front conveyor are all carriedby the front hood and hence will move up and down as a unit in thevertical adjustments of this hood. In such movements the front conveyormay slacken to some extent and if extreme vertical adjustments arecontemplated, automatic take-up means may be provided for this conveyer.

Trash collecting on the guard screen may be discharged at any time byraising the broom head unit carrying this screen and if need be, theunit may be quickly raised and lowered at any time to in effect shakeclear any collected material and. prevent overloading of the mechanism.

The main body of the machine is shown as having hinged doors 48 formingthe top of the same which may be opened for inspection or'repair, or forany other purposes, such as for clearing the conveyors of any foreignmaterial.

The bottom of the melting chamber is shown as made up in part of a panor reservoir 50 for collecting melted material, and this may be equippedwith a suitable trap or relief valve 5! operable by connections 52 fromthe cab of the machine so that water may be held and carried until suchtime as it may best be discharged.

The roadway machine is shown as propelled by an engine 53 suitablycoupled with the road wheelsi i and the machine may be suitably steeredas by a wheel 55 connected with the front, steering wheels 55.

The railroad type machine illustrated in Figs. l, 5 and 7 differs fromthat described principally in that it is mounted on railway car wheelsand axles 5?, provided with a coupler mechanism 58 by which it may beconnected with a locomotive and equipped with steam nozzles 59 in placeof the burners, and piping 66 arranged for connection with thelocomotive boiler. The nozzles are controlled by suitable valvemechanism such as indicated at 6 i.

In the illustration the conveyers may be driven either from the rear caraxle 5? or from the motor l5, through the medium of an intermediateshaft 62 adapted. to be driven by sprocket chain 63 from the axle or bysprocket chain 65 from the motor, said intermediate shaft drivingthrough reversing gears 65, the lower shaft 55 which carries the drivesprocket t? for the conveyor drive chain #6. Suitable clutch mechanismindicated at 68 enables this drive gearing to be selectively controlledso that the machine may be operated solely from the car axle or from themotor and so that if required, the motor may also propel the machine tomake it transitory independently of the locomotive, or possibly toassist the locomotive in the event of heavy snow.

The lifting and lowering of the hood is shown as controlled in thisrailway form of the device by hand winch 65 for turning a cross shaft incarrying windlasses 'ii for the hood lifting and lowering cables i i.

The vertical adjustment of the front hood 36 may be utilized to controlto some extent the blower eifect of the rotary broom on the heatsupplying means. The upper portion of the broom rotating outwardlycreates a draft, drawing the heat products forwardly through, beneathand about the conveyers. By raising or lowering the hood the suctioneffect may be varied and the meltin operations regulated and controlled.This blower operation also is utilized to heat the broom to some extent,to prevent ice and snow from caking or freezing on it.

Control also may be exercised by opening one or more of the top doors &9and securing it or them in partially or completely raised positions.

The heating of the broom also makes it more effective for scraping andbreaking snow and ice away from the road surface and for flaking andbreaking it up into smaller particles which will quickly disintegrate incontact with the preheated conveyors. Heated air that may be drawn outover the top of the broom is deflected downwardly by the downwardly andforwardly inclined hood onto snow immediately in advance of the machine,preparing it for action by the broom.

The machine of. the present invention has been designed to takeadvantage of the principle established through a series of experimentsby this inventor, that the heat required to melt a given volume of snowdepends directly on the density of the snow, other variables being heldconstant. In this improved machine the B. t. u.s required to melt agiven volume of snow have been reduced to 87 B. t. u.s per cubic foot asagainst 143-145 B. t. u.s per cubic foot at present given by standardengineering practice.

In addition to the various controls described, the machine may besupplied with suitable braking mechanism such as indicated at E2, Fig.i, and the like.

While a rotary broom may usually be preferred for sweeping in snow andice and delivering it on 5 the preheated grids of the conveyors, it iscontemplated that other forms of rotary members may be employed for suchpurposes, particularly if necessary to chop or break up heavier snow orice formations.

What is claimed is:

A snow melter comprising a portable melting chamber having verticalguides at the front end of the same, a hood slldable vertically on saidguides, power means on said portable melting chamber for raising andlowering said hood, a rotary snow entraining member mounted in said hoodand adapted to be vertically raised and low ered therewith, conveyorstravelling rearwardly into said melting chamber from said hood, means onsaid chamber for driving said rotary snow entrainer and conveyors, ascraper extending across the base of said hood for directing snow sweptby said rotary snow entraining member onto said conveyors, a trashscreen mounted in said hood between said scraper and conveyors, saidconveyors having cross channels slotted for passage of heat, and heatfurnishing means in the rearward portion of said melting chamberdischarging forwardly beneath and upwardly through the slotted channelsof said conveyor.

EDWARD A. SMITH.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 176,348 Pieler t Apr. 18, 1876226,222 Close Apr. 6, 1880 782,191 Daniels Feb. 7, 1905 929,737Weismantel Aug. 3, 1909 1,570,377 Dunkle Jan. 19, 1926 1,642,895Robinson et a1 Sept. 20, 1927 1,895,900 Smith Jan. 31, 1933 2,065,169Carpenter Dec. 22, 1936 2,178,400 Marino Oct. 31, 1939 2,221,386 SmithNov. 12, 1940 2,445,614 Flynn et a1 July 20, 1948

